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→The Bitter End
== The Bitter End ==
By [[Sarah Cawkwell]]
Even the [[Tyrant of Badab]] needs to bargain sometimes; when there is something he wants, but cannot simply take for himself, [[Lufgt Huron]] puts aside his hordes of warriors and ships, and relies on his charisma and cunning - neither of which were diminished by the near-destruction of his body. In fact, some among the [[Red Corsairs]] whisper that it was such a pact, with the [[Ruinous Powers]], that allowed Huron to survive the catastrophic wounds he suffered at the fall of [[Badab]].
Such an agreement brings Blackheart to an unnamed [[Dead World]], to negotiate with [[Dengesha]], the leader of the [[Heterodox]], a powerful band of [[Chaos Sorcerer]]s. Dengesha senses the presence of Huron's [[Hamadyra]] (his [[familiar]]), and Huron explains that he needs to capture and bind a powerful soul to sustain it for whenever he ventures outside the [[warp]]-saturated boundaries of the [[Maelstrom]]. He has already located a suitable candidate - [[Canonness]] [[Brigitta]] of the [[Order of the Iron Rose]] - but he needs Dengesha to perform the binding for him. Do this, Huron promises, and the [[Sororitas]]' world will be given to the Heterodox, to do with as they please.
The Red Corsairs' attack on the convent is furious and unstoppable. The Sisters of Battle are quickly overwhelmed, and Huron enters the fray only to subdue Brigitta, and bring her to the ritual site.
But when Dengesha performs the ritual, he finds his own soul being bound into the vessel prepared by Huron's [[Librarian]]s. Helpless, he can only listen as Huron explains that <u>he</u> was the soul identified as perfect for Huron's needs; as for the Heterodox, they have agreed to join the Corsairs, and so the planet will become theirs, and Huron's. Brigitta, her faith unshaken, offers thanks to the [[Emperor]] for avoiding Dengesha's fate, before Huron dispatches her with his [[Tyrant's Claw|Claw]].
In his headquarters, Huron congratulates [[Armenneus Valthex]], the creator of the vessel which entrapped Dengesha's soul. After the Tyrant is gone, however, Valthex reflects uneasily that he also had to make a bargain to carry out his lord's will, and one day his patron will come to collect.
== Throne of Lies ==
